Electric device having nanoscale wires and gaps

ABSTRACT

A method for forming first and second linear structures of a first composition that meet at right angles, there being a gap at the point at which the structures meet. The linear structures are constructed on an etchable crystalline layer having the first composition. First and second self-aligned nanowires of a second composition are grown on this layer and used as masks for etching the layer. The self-aligned nanowires are constructed from a material that has an asymmetric lattice mismatch with respect to the crystalline layer. The gap is sufficiently small to allow one of the structures to act as the gate of a transistor and the other to form the source and drain of the transistor. The gap can be filled with electrically switchable materials thereby converting the transistor to a memory cell.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of prior application Ser. No:10/104,348 filed Mar. 22, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,779.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to nanoscale electric devices, and moreparticularly, to a method for making nanoscale wires and gaps forswitches and transistors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Reducing the feature size of integrated circuit components is acontinuing goal of semiconductor process designers. In the past, suchreductions have led to decreased cost and increased operating speed.Device fabrication depends on techniques that rely on masks to definethe boundaries of the transistors and conductors. For example, metal andsemiconductor conductor patterns are fabricated by lithography in whichmasks determine the location and size of the patterns. The conductivityin semiconductors can also be controlled by implanting ions. The areasthat are to be implanted are typically defined by an opening in a mask.Similarly, transistors require the selective implantation of ions.Unfortunately, conventional masking techniques are inadequate whennanometer scale components are to be fabricated.

Broadly, it is the object of the present invention to provide aself-assembled masking technique for use in fabricating nanoscale wiresand devices in integrated circuits.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art from the following detailed description of theinvention and the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a method for forming first and second linearstructures of a first composition that meet at right angles, there beinga gap at the point at which the structures meet. The linear structuresare constructed on an etchable crystalline layer having the firstcomposition. First and second self-aligned nanowires of a secondcomposition are grown on a surface of the etchable crystalline layer,the first nanowire growing at right angles to the second nanowire. Thefirst nanowire is separated from the second nanowire by a gap of lessthan 10 nm at their closest point. Portions of the etchable layer thatare not under the first and second nanowires are then etched using thefirst and second nanowires as a mask thereby forming the first andsecond linear structures of the first composition. The nanowires aregrown by depositing a material of the second composition which formscrystals on the surface that have an asymmetric lattice mismatch withrespect to the crystalline surface. The linear structures so formed arewell suited for the fabrication of nanoscale transistors having a firstelongated doped semiconductor wire having a width between 1–100 nm on aninsulative substrate. A second wire at right angles to the first ridgeacts as the gate of the transistor. The two wires are separated by a gapof between 0.4 and 10 nm at their closest point. By filling the gapswith appropriate materials, the wires and gaps can also function as ananoscale memory switch and a transistor.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1(A)–(C) are prospective views at various stages in thefabrication process of a substrate 12 in which nanowires are to beconstructed.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a portion of a substrate 20 on which twoself-assembled nanowires and a nanoscale gap shown at 21 and 22 havebeen grown.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a semiconductor nanowire structure thatforms a transistor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is based on the observation that thin “nanowires”of ErSi₂ can be grown epitaxially on the (001) plane of silicon withoutmasking the silicon. The manner in which these wires are grown isdiscussed in detail in “Self-assembled growth of epitaxial erbiumdisilicide nanowires on silicon (001)” by Yong Chen, Douglas A. A.Ohlberg, Gilberto Medeiros-Ribeiro, Y. Austin Chang, and R. StanleyWilliams in Applied Physics Letters, 76, p. 4004, June 2000, which ishereby incorporated by reference. The ErSi₂ nanowires are grown bydepositing Er on the surface of the silicon and then heating the siliconto drive the reaction to completion. The Er can be deposited with an insitu electron-beam evaporator at temperatures between room temperatureand 620° C. The annealing operation can be carried out at temperaturesbetween 575 and 800° C. The resulting nanowires are oriented along thetwo perpendicular <110> directions ([110] and [1–10]) and at rightangles thereto.

The self-assembly of the nanowires depends on an asymmetric latticemismatch between the ErSi2 and the underlying silicon substrate. Theoverlayer material must be closely-lattice matched to the substratealong one major crystallographic axis but have a significant latticemismatch along all other crystallographic axes within the interfacebetween the epitaxial crystal and the substrate. In principle, thisallows the unrestricted growth of the epitaxial crystal in the firstdirection but limits the width in the other.

While the example given herein utilizes ErSi₂ grown over Si, othermaterials and substrates can be utilized. In general, any crystallinematerial that can be characterized by an asymmetric lattice mismatch, inwhich the first material has a close lattice match (in any direction)with the second material and has a large lattice mismatch along allother crystallographic axes within the interface between the epitaxialcrystal and the substrate. For example, ScSi₂, GdSi₂, and DySi₂ grown onSi(001) substrates may also be utilized. Such structures are taught inYong Chen, Douglas A. A. Ohlberg, and R. Stanley Williams in Journal ofApplied Physics, 91, p. 3213, March 2002, which is hereby incorporatedby reference. A close lattice match means that the absolute value oflattice mismatch between the two crystal materials is less than 4%. Alarge lattice mismatch means that the absolute value of lattice mismatchbetween the two crystal materials is within the range of about 4 to 10%.While any crystallographic direction may be chosen, the presentinvention preferably utilizes a material having the asymmetric latticemismatch along a major (or low Miller-index) crystallographic directionwithin the interface between the epitaxial crystal and the substrate. By“major crystallographic direction” is meant any direction along whichthe crystalline material comprising the nanowire may prefer to growwithin the interfacial plane.

In the case of ErSi₂, ScSi₂, GdSi₂, and DySi₂ nanowires, the nanowiresare typically 2–20 nm wide and have lengths of a few hundred nm. Thenanowires are self-elongating once the silicide crystal has been seededat a particular location. The nanowires can be seeded at locations wherespecial seeding materials or growth windows are predefined bylithography methods.

The manner in which these nanowires are utilized to generate two siliconnanowires at the right angle and a nanoscale gap between them will nowbe explained with reference to FIGS. 1(A)–(C) which are prospectiveviews of a silicon substrate 12 in which a single conducting siliconnanowire is to be constructed at various stages in the fabricationprocess. The upper region 13 of silicon substrate 12 is doped with asuitable element to render the material conducting. An insulating layer19 such as SiO_(x) is buried under the conductive layer. The insulatinglayer typically has a thickness between 1–500 nm. The insulating layercan be made by implanting oxygen ions into the silicon substrate andthen annealing the substrate to form a buried layer of SiO_(x). An ErSi₂nanowire 14 is then deposited over the region of substrate 12 that is tocontain the silicon nanowire. FIG. 1(B) illustrates a prospective viewof the present invention wherein the portions of the material that wereabove the insulating layer but not masked by the nanowire have beenremoved leaving a ridge 16 having an ErSi₂ layer on the top thereof.These portions can be removed by reactive ion etching (RIE). The etchingcan be stopped at the exposed surface of the insulating layer. Finally,the ErSi₂ can be removed, if desired, by selective chemical etchingleaving the Si nanowire 18 as shown in FIG. 1(C).

The present invention is based on the observation that the ErSi₂nanowires provide a masking pattern that is ideal for the fabrication ofnanoscale gaps for transistors and memory switches. The ErSi₂ nanowiresgrow along the [110] crystal direction and also along the [1–10]direction. When two of these nanowires are seeded such that the twonanowires will meet at right angles, a nanoscale gap can be formedbetween the first and the second nanowires at the point at which onenanowire meets the other nanowire at a right angle. The growth of thefirst nanowire will be stopped as it gets close to the second nanowiresince the two nanowires have different crystallographic orientations.

Refer now to FIG. 2, which is a top view of a portion of a siliconsubstrate 20 on which two ErSi₂ nanowires shown at 21 and 22 have beengrown. When two ErSi₂ wires meet at right angles, a small gap 23 remainsbetween the ErSi₂ nanowires. The gap is typically 0.4–10 nm.

Refer now to FIG. 3, which is a perspective view of a silicon nanowirestructure that forms a switch or a transistor. Transistor 30 isconstructed from two silicon nanowires shown at 32 and 33. Nanowire 33acts as the gate of transistor 30. The ends of nanowire 32 form thesource and drain of transistor 30. Nanowires 32 and 33 are fabricatedusing a mask of the type shown in FIG. 1B. Due to the small gap distance34, when a voltage is applied on nanowire 32, the electric field willinfluence and control the current flow in nanowire 33. The gap can befilled with a material such as molecules, ferroelectric materials, andnanoscale particles that store charge or electric dipole moment in thegap. Hence, the transistor can provide gain or nonvolatile switching forlogic and memory applications. If two-electrode devices are formedbetween the nanowires 32 and 33, an electric field applied between thetwo electrodes can switch the electric conductivity of the materialsadjacent to the gap. Such a device is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,214,which describes how a memory cell can be formed between the twonanowires.

While the above embodiments of the present invention have been describedin terms of masks generated from ErSi₂ nanowires, as noted above, othermaterials can be utilized. In general, any material that has asufficiently asymmetric lattice mismatch can be utilized over anappropriate substrate. Metal silicides represented as the chemicalformula MSi₂ grown over silicon are examples of such nanowire systems.Here, M is a metal selected from the group consisting of Sc, Y, and therare earths. The preferred rare earths are Er, Dy, Gd, Th, Ho, Th, Y,Sc, Tm, and Sm.

In principle, any single crystal material that is useful in thefabrication of nanowires may be used in combination with any singlecrystal material that serves as a layer on which the nanowires can begrown, provided that the asymmetric lattice mismatch conditionsdescribed above are met. The present invention may be practiced usingself-assembled crystals grown on single crystal layers such as metals,insulators such as sapphire, and semiconductors such as germanium, III–Vcompound semiconductors, whether binary (e.g., GaAs, InP, etc.), ternary(e.g., InGaAs), or higher (e.g., InGaAsP), II–VI compoundsemiconductors, and IV–VI compound semiconductors. Examples of suchcombinations are listed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,408, entitled“Thermodynamically Stabilized Conductor/Compound SemiconductorInterfaces”, issued on Sep. 3, 1991, to R. Stanley Williams et al, thecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Specificexamples of semiconductor substrate materials include Si, Ge,Ge_(x)Si_(1-x) where 0<x<1, GaAs, InAs, AlGaAs, InGaAs, AlGaAs, GaN,InN, AlN, AlGaN, and InGaN. Specific examples of metal substratematerials include Al, Cu, Ti, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn, Ga, Nb, Mo, Pd, Ag,In, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, and Au, and alloys thereof.

Various modifications to the present invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art from the foregoing description and accompanyingdrawings. Accordingly, the present invention is to be limited solely bythe scope of the following claims.

1. An electric device comprising: a first elongated nanowire on andtouching an insulating surface and a second elongated nanowire on andtouching the same side of said insulating surface, said first nanowirehaving a first straight portion and said second nanowire having a secondstraight portion, said first straight portion and said second straightportion forming a T-shaped structure, said first and second straightportions separated by a gap of between 0.4 nm and 10 nm.
 2. The electricdevice of claim 1 wherein said first and second nanowires form atransistor having a source, drain, and gate, and wherein said firstnanowire has first and second ends; said first end of said firstnanowire forming said source, said second end of said first nanowireforming said drain, and said second nanowire forming said gate.
 3. Theelectric device of claim 1 wherein said first elongated nanowirecomprises a semiconductor chosen from the group consisting of Si, Ge,Ge_(x)Si_(1-x) where 0<x<1, GaAs, InAs, AlGaAs, InGaAs, GaN, InN, AlN,AlGaN, and InGaN.
 4. The electric device of claim 1 wherein said gap isfilled with a material that stores electrical charge.
 5. The electricdevice of claim 1 wherein said gap is filled with a material havingelectric dipole moment.
 6. The electric device of claim 1 wherein saidfirst and second nanowires form a two-electrode memory switching device,said first nanowire forming the first electrode of said switching deviceand said second nanowire forming the second electrode of said switchingdevice.
 7. An electric device comprising: a first linear nanowire on aninsulating surface and a second linear nanowire on said insulatingsurface at a right angle to and in the same plane as said firstnanowire, said first nanowire and said second nanowire forming aT-shaped structure, said first and second nanowire separated by a gap ofbetween 0.4 nm and 10 nm.
 8. The electric device of claim 7 wherein saidfirst and second nanowires form a transistor having a source, drain, andgate, and wherein said first nanowire has first and second ends; saidfirst end of said first nanowire forming said source, said second end ofsaid first nanowire forming said drain, and said second nanowire formingsaid gate.
 9. The electric device of claim 7 wherein said firstelongated nanowire comprises a semiconductor chosen from the groupconsisting of Si, Ge, Ge_(x)Si_(1-x) where 0<x<1, GaAs, InAs, AlGaAs,InGaAs, GaN, InN, AlN, AlGaN, and InGaN.
 10. The electric device ofclaim 7 wherein said gap is filled with a material that storeselectrical charge.
 11. The electric device of claim 7 wherein said gapis filled with a material having electric dipole moment.
 12. Theelectric device of claim 7 wherein said first and second nanowires forma two-electrode memory switching device, said first nanowire forming thefirst electrode of said switching device and said second nanowireforming the second electrode of said switching device.